MIDDLE EAST UPRISING

London: Britain said on Thursday it was "very likely" the Syrian government had used chemical weapons, and Turkey announced it was stepping up testing of people fleeing the Syrian civil war for traces.
US Secretary of State John Kerry expressed gratitude to Russia for its willingness to try to arrange a...

Beirut: The Syrian regime threatened on Monday to use its chemical and biological weapons in case of a foreign attack, in its first ever acknowledgement that it possesses weapons of mass destruction.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Jihad Makdissi vowed, however, that Damascus would not use its unconventional arms against its own citizens....

Damascus: Syria's 16month bloodbath crossed an important symbolic threshold on Sunday as the international Red Cross formally declared the conflict a civil war, a status with implications for potential war crimes prosecutions.
The Red Cross statement came as UN observers gathered new details on what happened in a village where dozens...

United Nations: UN chief Ban Kimoon has welcomed the transition of power in Yemen, saying all sides should now honour their commitments to immediately bring to an end all violence and refrain from further provocations.
The political settlement agreement, signed by President Ali Abdullah Saleh, was an "important step for the...

London: Syria's embattled President Bashar alAssad has warned that Western military action against his country could cause an 'earthquake' that could create 'another Afghanistan' and burn the whole of the Middle East.
His warning came hours after UN chief Ban Kimoon asked Syria to 'immediately' end attacks on civilians, saying the...

Beirut: Western powers risk causing an earthquake across the Middle East if they intervene in Syria, President Bashar alAssad said, after protesters called for foreign protection from a crackdown in which 3,000 people have been killed. Assad's warning came ahead of Syrian government talks on Sunday with the Arab League...

Tripoli: Muammar Gaddafi urged his supporters from hiding to fight on as Libya's new interim rulers met world leaders on Thursday to discuss reshaping a nation torn by 42 years of oneman rule and six months of civil war.
"Let it be a long battle. We will fight from place to...

Sanaa: Supporters and opponents of President Ali Abdullah Saleh staged competing marches in Yemen's capital on Friday, a day after his first TV appearance in a month, highlighting the deep political rift that could tear apart this impoverished, gunridden nation.
Saleh appeared on state TV late Thursday, a first since flying...

Amman: Syrian troops and gunmen loyal to President Bashar alAssad stormed a town near the Turkish border on Saturday, burning houses and arresting dozens, witnesses said, in a persistent military campaign to crush popular revolt.
The latest assault followed another Friday of protests, which have grown in size and scope over...

Tripoli: A NATO airstrike hit an area near Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi's compound in the capital again on Tuesday, as military leaders voiced concerns about sustaining the operations if the alliance mission drags on.
A column of gray smoke could be seen rising from the area around Gaddafi's Bab alAziziya compound...

Sanna: Further talks to resolve Yemen's political crisis have failed after the deputy to wounded President Ali Abdullah Saleh refused to speak with groups demanding he cede power immediately, opposition figures said.
Saleh, forced to seek medical treatment in Saudi Arabia for wounds suffered in an attack on his palace nine...

Amman: Syrian security forces shot dead at least 44 civilians in attacks on prodemocracy demonstrations that erupted across Syria on Friday, the Syrian National Organisation for Human Rights said on Saturday.
Prominent rights campaigner Ammar Qurabi, who heads of the organisation, said more than half were killed in the northwest province...

Washington/Amman: Syria was under growing pressure on Thursday to stop using military force against antigovernment protesters after the United States slapped sanctions on President Bashar alAssad over human rights violations.
Broadening its campaign against prodemocracy rallies, Syrian tanks have been shelling a border town for days in the latest attempt to...

Tripoli: Vandals attacked the Italian and British embassies in the Libyan capital on Sunday, hours after Muammar Gaddafi escaped a NATO missile strike that a government spokesman said killed one of his sons and three young grandchildren.
Britain responded to the attack on its embassy complex in Tripoli, which left the...

Tripoli: The Libyan government on Tuesday said that strongman Muammar Gaddafi was unharmed in NATO's heaviest attack on his compound as his forces bombarded the besieged western city of Misurata with rockets, giving the town no respite.
A defiant Gaddafi was shown by the state television meeting people in a tent...

Tripoli: Rebel fighters drove Muammar Gaddafi's forces to the edge of the besieged western city of Misrata on Sunday, taking control of the main hospital where government troops had been holed up, a resident said.
In the fighting, Gaddafi loyalists fired dozens of rockets at Misrata on Sunday, said the resident,...

Tripoli: Muammar Gaddafi rolled defiantly through the streets of Tripoli, pumping his fists as he poked through the sun roof of an SUV on Thursday, the same day that NATO airstrikes shook the city. The alliance's foreign ministers, while united in their aim to pressure the Libyan leader to go,...

London: A key Libyan official involved in negotiations on the future of Muammar Gaddafi's regime said on Friday that Tripoli was attempting to hold talks with US, Britain and France to find a mutual end to the crisis.
AbdulAti alObeidi, a former Libyan prime minister, said Gaddafi's government was reaching out...

Dubai: A showdown between the embattled USbacked President and the opposition, escalated in Yemen on Wednesday as the country's parliament dominated by supporters of Ali Abdullah Saleh approved a sweeping state of emergency giving him new powers to quash a popular uprising.
The new month long emergency law suspended the strife...